Barracuda bites back at Trend Micro in ClamAV patent lawsuit

Security appliance vendor Barracuda Networks has filed a countersuit against Trend Micro in an effort to protect the open source ClamAV antivirus program from Trend's allegations of infringement. Barracuda intends to leverage threats of its own patent litigation to force Trend Micro to back down.

The dispute between the two companies erupted earlier this year when Trend Micro claimed that ClamAV infringes on its patents covering the use of server-based antivirus software on FTP and SMTP gateways. Although Barracuda has found a pile of extremely well-documented prior art, Trend Micro aimed to bully Barracuda into a settlement.

Barracuda, a member of the Open Invention Network and a supporter of open source software, was unwilling to simply negotiate a cheap licensing agreement for patent indemnity, because doing so would have left other ClamAV users—including non-profit organizations, government agencies, and the state of Vermont—vulnerable to similar litigation. Barracuda CEO Dean Drako decided instead to fight back in court and attempt to invalidate the patent. In addition to finding countless instances of prior art, Barracuda has also uncovered compelling evidence that the patent is procedurally invalid.

In an effort to increase pressure on Trend and force a concession, Barracuda has launched a countersuit with its own defensive portfolio of antivirus patents obtained from IBM. Barracuda will use these patents to push back hard against Trend with the hope that the antivirus company will agree not to pursue further action against ClamAV users. If Barracuda succeeds in its countersuit, the company has pledged to contribute the net proceeds to the open source software community.

"The reality is that Trend Micro is asking Barracuda Networks to pay for the use of the free and open source ClamAV software," Drako said in a statement. "We have asserted all along that Trend Micro's actions are unjust and could have serious implications against the open source community and other free and open source projects."

It is likely that Trend Micro perceives ClamAV as a threat to its business model because open source antivirus software makes security accessible at no cost to many users. Barracuda's ongoing defense of ClamAV is a win for the open source software community.